According to new Quinnipiac university polls released on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton is trailing behind three leading GOP candidates, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker, in three key swing states. These states, Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia, have preferred the GOP candidates over Clinton in hypothetical general-election matchups. Should Clinton be worried?
Dylann Roof has been indicted on federal hate crime charges. Should he get the death sentence?
Dylann Roof, the man accused of killing nine black people during their church worship at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, has been charged with committing a federal hate crime. Roof has posted racist remarks and a photo of him holding a Confederate flag on the internet, sparking nationwide debate over whether the Confederate flag is symbolic of racism. Roof has now been charged with a 33-count indictment under federal hate crime laws, convicting him of nine murders, three attempted murders, and illegal use of firearm in the shooting. Prosecutors have not said if they will punish Roof with the death sentence. Do you think they should?
Should the minimum wage be raised to $15?
Yesterday, New York approved the $15 minimum wage for its fast food workers and California announced the same raise for the state's university employees. Seattle, Los Angeles, and the state of New York have been moving towards the $15 minimum wage for a while. The current federal minimum wage still remains to be $7.25 an hour. Do you think the minimum wage should be raised to $15 nationwide?
Better social media diss? Lindsey Graham or Katy Perry?
In reaction to Donald Trump revealing his phone number to the public, Lindsey Graham posted a YouTube video titled “How to Destroy Your Cell Phone With Sen. Lindsey Graham.” In the video, we see the senator destroying his flip phone in various ways. “And if all else fails, you can always give your number to the Donald,” Graham says at the end of the video. He then proceeds to throw his phone off-screen after adding, “This is for all the veterans.” His last statement is a jab at Trump’s statement about Senator John McCain last week, when the business mogul said that the senator was not a war hero because he liked people who weren’t captured.
Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift had a bit of a Twitter argument on Wednesday (although both have cleared up their apparent misunderstandings since). Insert Katy Perry into the situation, who has had bad blood with Swift after she hired Swift’s backup dancers in the middle of the popstar’s tour and Swift retaliated with her viral music video “Bad Blood.” Perry weighed in on the Minaj and Swift twitter conversation by sending a general tweet: “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman.” Perry’s tweet is quite clearly targeted towards Swift, who had tweeted Minaj “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..” See the tweets below to understand the whole situation.
Let us know: Who do you think made the better diss?
Would restricting gun ownership to only women solve the US’s problem with gun deaths?
Do you support stricter or laxer gun laws? In an article on Ozy, Fiona Zublin has proposed an alternative: restrict gun ownership to only women. Zublin cites the statistic that “of the 70 US mass shootings committed since 1982, just one perpetrator was a woman.” She says that the FBI continues to show that “men commit about 90 percent of homicides, and that firearms are the murder weapon of choice.” Take into account that women are three times less likely to own a gun than men, and that leaves women still nine times less likely to kill than men. It’s possible, Zublin admits, that the issue of gun deaths is gender neutral, and switching the gender of gun owners will simply change the gender that commits the most gun crimes. But, do you agree with Zublin that restricting gun ownership to just women could very well solve the US's problem with gun deaths?
How much will Bernie Sanders’ reaction to the #BlackLivesMatter movement hurt him?
During Bernie Sanders’ appearance at Netroots Nation on Saturday, #BlackLivesMatter confronted the candidate about racial injustice in the US. The #BlackLivesMatter began as a response to the deaths of black men and women at the hands of police officers. The activists were also chanting #SayHerName, in response to the suspicious deaths of black women while in police custody (including Sandra Band, an educated woman with no criminal record). They asked Sanders what he would do to stop racial inequality in America, to which Sanders replied, “Black lives of course matter. But I’ve spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights. If you don’t want me to be here, that’s okay.”
The activists continued to chant while Sanders attempted to continue his prepared speech, leading the candidate to raise his voice over the crowd at times. Sanders, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., has a history of fighting for civil rights. But, he is criticized by the #BlackLivesMatter activists for believing that racial inequality is a symptom of economic inequality, and fixing the latter will fix the former as well. Sanders later skipped his meeting with the #BlackLivesMatter activists. He did go on Twitter later and tweet about #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName, as you can see below. Overall, do you think Sanders’ campaign will be hurt by how he reacted to this entire situation?
Donald Trump said that Sen. McCain is “not a war hero.” Will this cost Trump his popularity?
Donald Trump shocked the nation on Saturday with his comments about Senator John McCain’s war service. McCain, who served in the Vietnam war, was captured and repeatedly tortured in the Hoa Lo Prison sarcastically known as the “Hanoi Hilton.” Trump received five deferments during the war, meaning that he did not have to join the service. In his remarks about McCain, Trump said “He is not a war hero.” The host of the session responded, “He is war hero,” before Trump cut him off by saying “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK? I hate to tell you. He is a war hero because he was captured. OK you can have — I believe perhaps he is a war hero.” Trump later went on Twitter to clear up the anger he received for his comment, tweeting “Captured or not, all our soldiers are heroes!” Many of his Republican opponents, who have stayed quiet on their opinions of Trump’s previous inflammatory comments, showed their disapproval of what Trump said on Saturday. Do you think Trump’s statement is going to make him less popular on the polls?
Do you agree with President Obama’s decision to create diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba?
Yesterday, for the first time in 50 years, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in each other’s capitals. The hostile relationship between the two nations was established when Fidel Castro rose to power during the Cold War and has been in place ever since. Now, restrictions on traveling to each other’s nations and banking have been removed. The US still has a trade embargo on Cuba and Guantanamo Bay remains operated by Washington. While some applaud Obama’s decision to relieve the enmity between the two nations, others are protesting the ties the White House is establishing with the communist Castro government. Many 2016 Republican candidates have stepped forward to voice their disapproval, with Marco Rubio commenting that “this notion that somehow being able to travel more to Cuba, to sell more consumer products, the idea that’s going to lead to some democratic opening is absurd.” Do you approve of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries?
Overall, do you agree with Bernie Sanders’ stance on the #BlackLivesMatter movement?
During Bernie Sanders’ appearance at Netroots Nation on Saturday, #BlackLivesMatter confronted the candidate about racial injustice in the US. The #BlackLivesMatter began as a response to the deaths of black men and women at the hands of police officers. The activists were also chanting #SayHerName, in response to the suspicious deaths of black women while in police custody (including Sandra Band, an educated woman with no criminal record). They asked Sanders what he would do to stop racial inequality in America, to which Sanders replied, “Black lives of course matter. But I’ve spent 50 years of my life fighting for civil rights. If you don’t want me to be here, that’s okay.”
The activists continued to chant while Sanders attempted to continue his prepared speech, leading the candidate to raise his voice over the crowd at times. Sanders, who marched with Martin Luther King Jr., has a history of fighting for civil rights. But, he is criticized by the #BlackLivesMatter activists for believing that racial inequality is a symptom of economic inequality, and fixing the latter will fix the former as well. Sanders later skipped his meeting with the #BlackLivesMatter activists. He did go on Twitter later and tweet about #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName, as you can see below. Overall, do you think agree with Sanders’ stance on the movement?
A Norwegian mass murderer has been accepted to Oslo University. Should prisoners be permitted to enroll in colleges in the US?
In 2011, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting attack. He has now been accepted by Oslo University to study political science - from his prison cell. He will not be given any contact with his professors or classmates. The university’s rector, Ole Petter Ottersen, wrote an explanation for Breivik’s admittance: “All inmates in Norwegian prisons have a right to pursue higher education in Norway if they meet the admission requirements and are successful in competition with other applicants." He also wrote, "It is part of the universities’ mission to uphold democratic values, ideals and practices, also when these are challenged by heinous acts. We are on a slippery slope should we change the rules and adjust them to crimes committed.” Do you think that prisoners should be given the chance at college education while in prison?